Literature and history.

Episode 47, O- Tempura O'Mores.

This is the second of three shows on the Roman orator, statesman, and writer, Marcus Tullius

Cicero, who lived from 106 to 43 BC.

This episode covers the main part of Cicero's career, a career filled with courtroom dramas,

political intrigues and conspiracies, as Cicero followed his dream and ascended the four rungs of the Roman Curses-honoram or course of offices.

I want to start this episode with a quote from the great contemporary philosopher Bruno Latour and

this is a quote about politicians. Latour writes that quote it takes something like courage to admit that we will never do better than a politician.

Those who are not politicians simply have somewhere to hide.

When they have made their mistakes, they can go back and try again.

Only the politician is limited to a single shot and has to shoot in public. What we despise as political

mediocrity is simply the collection of compromises that we force politicians

to make on our behalf.

Close quote.

The quote, it's from a book called The Pasturization of France, by the way.

The quote invites us to think about the unique challenges faced by

figures in the public eye.

A politician or a much sought after orator or a lawyer, and Cicero was all three of these, work always in real time.

Their decisions are often scrutinized in retrospect with a more complete understanding of their ramifications. and they are judged in decision that they make, but also the reverberations of decisions that they couldn't readily anticipate.

A modern politician, a prime minister, a president, or a senator, faces an uncommon degree of public scrutiny.

And Cicero, whose cases and speeches and private correspondence and books have been studied for over 2,000 years, has been particularly swarmed with criticism,

criticism for wavering in his support for the Republic, for taking cases at loggerheads

...